africa at their nissan plant are organized and able to collectively bargain, why shouldn t mississippi workers be able to organize? i think it s unfair and unfathomable that a company from outside of the united states come to mississippi and treat workers as unamerican. it is unfortunate that we can sit here today in the state that has a long history of exploiting workers for cheap labor to allow an international company to exploit our workers. we will not stand for it as clergy. we will not stand for it as naacp, and we will stand with the workers. okay. it s a story to follow. i know that danny glover is involved in this as far as telling the global story about how other countries are treating workers, and yet it seems to be getting worse for workers in this country. all you want is your voices heard and an opportunity for a vote in the workplace. it s a story we ll follow. betty jones and derrick johnson and all the folks down this in canton, mississippi, i really appreciate it.
chance to be heard. now some of the workers say the supervisors hold anti-union meetings. the workers just want to hear from the pro union side so they can have a fair vote. that s all they want to do is vote. the naacp has been involved for months on this issue. 70% of the workers at the canton plant are african-american. representative bennie thompson addressed the issue back in june. in america, being able to decide whether or not you want representation is a fundamental principle of civil rights, human rights in a democracy. this week, those same civil rights organizers held another news conference, of all places they re serious they went all the way to detroit, the detroit auto show. that s where they got up when it got under way. actor danny glover spoke. he is actively campaigning for the nissan workers rights. organizers are planning more news conferences at auto shows in chicago, in atlanta in the next few months. they re not going to give up. they re hoping the attent
made a big screen anti-union speech to workers in smyrna, mississippi, back in 2001. he told them the union might make this plant be not competitive and possibly shut down. shortly after that speech, smyrna workers rejected uaw by about 1600 votes. workers in canton say they feel threatened and intimidated if they talk about organizing. so we asked nissan here on the ed show about those claims today. david reuter told us, we treat our employees with respect and routinely engage in an open dialogue on topics that impact our business. but in the same conversation, reuter also made this statement. if you re pro union, you re anti-nissan. i m joined tonight by two people who say they re not anti-nissan. betty jones, a nissan employee, and derrick johnson, president of the mississippi state naacp, and you can see workers behind them this evening from mississippi joining us here on
the naacp has been involved for months on this issue. 70% of the workers at the canton plant are african-american. representative bennie tom addressed the issue back in june. in america, being able to decide whether or not you want representation is a fundamental a political principle of human rights, civil rights and democracy. this same week those same civil rights organizers held another news conference, of all places, they re serious, they went all the way to detroit. the detroit auto show. that s where they got up when it got under way. actor danny glover spoke. he is actively campaigning for the nissan workers rights. organizers are planning more news conferences at auto shows in chicago, in atlanta in the next few months. they re not going to give up. they re hoping the attention will simply help the workers in canton to get a choice about organizing. to be fair, not all of the employees want the union. nissan told us today that they
africa at their nissan plant are organize and able to collectively bargain, why shouldn t mississippi workers be able to organize? i think it s unfair and unfathomable that a company from outside of the united states come to mississippi and treat workers as unamerican. it is unfortunate that we can sit here today in the state that has a long history of exploiting workers for cheap labor to allow an international company to exploit our workers. we will not stand for it as clergy. we will not stand for it as naacp, and we will stand with the workers. okay. it s a story to follow. i know that danny glover is involved in this as far as telling the global story about how other countries are treating workers, and yet it seems to be getting worse for workers in this country. all you want is your voices heard and an opportunity for a vote in the workplace. it s a story we ll follow. betty jones and derrick johnson and all the folks down this in canton, mississippi, i really appreciate it. yo